Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association of Pakistan (PPMA) expressed grave concern over the government’s seeming insistence on granting MFN status to India without taking into account the valid concerns of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
The industry fears that in the absence of appropriate measures, the government’s move to grant MFN status to India will severely hit the local pharmaceutical industry, potentially inundate the market with spurious imported drugs, and render thousands of technical and non-technical and industry-related people jobless in the industry.
In such a situation, the pharmaceutical manufacturers would be forced to close down their units or move to other countries, which would be another loss of investment following the large-scale relocation of textiles to Bangladesh, fear domestic manufacturers.
Political attempts to normalise trade relations with neighbouring India are being appreciated widely, but the people of each country expect their governments to proceed with normalisation in a way that protects and benefits its own national interests. The domestic pharmaceutical industry has been trying to get its views heard at policy echelons but without much success. Reacting strongly to recent reports in the press suggesting that the Ministry of Commerce had informed the cabinet that PPMA had no issues with granting of MFN to India, PPMA officials clarified that the industry strongly opposed the move unless its concerns were properly addressed and due priority given to the Pakistani over Indian pharmaceutical industry. Similarly, the industry in India benefits from several subsidies and incentives, including SEZ status, which gives the industry preferential access to electricity and gas at tax-free rates. In contrast, the industry in Pakistan currently has almost no access to utilities, preferential or otherwise. India also employs several non-tariff barriers to imports into its market which must be countered first and a level playing field created before opening up our markets.
Pharmaceutical industry opposes MFN status for India
